I gigged with one for the last ten years.
Rock,blues,RnB,Zydeco.
My guitar is a Strat.
Absolutely zero problems with it.
Used the overdrive channel too.
Amp was stock.
There was nothing I hated about the amp.
It did it's job all the time,whether miked up or not.
Good all around gigging amp.
Lightweight enough to easily carry.
After ten years,I just needed a change and just got a Mesa 5.50 Express Plus.
You could probably find a BDRI used for a very fair price.

I think if you are looking for a clean amp to use with pedals for gigging it's hard to beat the BDRI at that price point. I own several boutique amps but the BDRI is my go to amp. It has great Fender tone at a modest price with plenty of power for any size gig.

Is there a way to mod/replace the volume knob ? and is that even possible? what would that cost aside from finding the right dude to do it? I figure if the tubes get replaced with better ones along with the speaker, why not mod the volume knob.

I love my BDRI. It has the nicest cleans I've come across, and I can get the nicest blues tones with pedals.

As far as the volume, I am pretty sure there is already an audio taper pot in there from the factory. I think it might be a matter of putting a lower gain tube in V1, like a 12AU7 or something. I haven't tested that myself yet though.

I gigged with one for the last ten years.
Rock,blues,RnB,Zydeco.
My guitar is a Strat.
Absolutely zero problems with it.
Used the overdrive channel too.
Amp was stock.
There was nothing I hated about the amp.
It did it's job all the time,whether miked up or not.
Good all around gigging amp.
Lightweight enough to easily carry.
After ten years,I just needed a change and just got a Mesa 5.50 Express Plus.
You could probably find a BDRI used for a very fair price.

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I had a similar experience, although I found the overdrive channel to be pretty bad and the volume knob goes from about 0-7 within the first 10% of the sweep. Didn't gig with it often, but I eventually sold it and picked up a 5:25 Express. The Fender is a great amp though.

I think it's a great amp, especially for $750 new. I don't understand the comments about a harsh drive channel (the HRDlx-yes, but not the BDRI). To me it is a very sweet mildly overdriven sound. The amp takes pedals well also, and if you want any significant distortion, you'll need a pedal to get it.

I addressed the sensitive volume issue by buying a 'volume box' and putting it in-the-loop. They can be had for $20 on ebay.

I've had a 2x12 Blues Deville for about 10 years. Fantastic amp. I actually like the drive channel better than the clean one, but I rarely play clean anyway. I agree with IM4Tone above and think the drive channel provides an old school overdriven tone. I also have a '76 JMP as well, and the distortion characteristics of the two are very similar. The Blues Deville just doesn't have quite the midrange punch the JMP does.

I bought a $20 volume box on ebay that runs between the preamp in and preamp out. It allows me to run both volumes at 10 and adjust the overall volume with the knob on the box. Works great.

The Blues series has a thicker, midrange growl that's closer to an early Marshall or 50's Fender than it is to the more scooped sound of Blackface and Silverface models. That's the sound I prefer.

I owned one for a while, but the reverb went out in it while it was still new. I took it back and got replacement and had the same issue. I actually had to go through a few to get one that was solid. I'm not sure if this was just a bad batch or was a overall quality issue.

I eventually returned the amp because it just didn't have enough headroom/power to work for me unmic'd with the blues band I was with at the time (I eventually got a Lone Star 2x12). I thought the Blues Deluxe was a very nice sounding amp at lower or medium volumes, though. If I ever revisit that amp, I would opt for the 4x10 version.